People Living their Purpose & Values

How do you capture the essence of a global organization comprised of 16,500 associates in 55 countries? To answer this question, I turn to a Maori proverb that sends chills through my body every time I hear the words, “He aha te mea nui o te ao. He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.” What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people, the people, the people.

In early October 2017, Flowserve Corporation (NYSE: FLS) CEO and President R. Scott Rowe tasked a small team with a special assignment: define a purpose and values to serve as the core elements of building our culture moving forward.

A diverse group of more than 80 associates at every career level, across geographic regions and business functions came together to articulate Flowserve Corporation’s purpose and values. We underwent an intensely collaborative process over eight weeks to sort through our individual perceptions, articulate common threads, and finally deliver a unified purpose and values.

From the moment I became involved with the project, I knew people had to come first. Over the past four years, my work has focused on improving corporate processes, systems, and tools for the finance and sales functions. Leaders have a choice: either provide people the tools and training they need to succeed in their jobs or set them up to fail.

In less than a year with Scott at the helm of the company, we had seen the introduction of balanced scorecards, and a clear focus on people, process and technology, customers, and financials. The logic is straightforward: if you empower your people, develop them, and provide them with the tools they need to succeed, then performance and health will improve. In turn, healthy, high-performing associates will produce quality products on-time that meet customer needs and exceed customer expectations, which drives stronger financial results for shareholders.

Our diverse project team of more than 80 associates took our task from the CEO seriously. Each of us brought a broad variety of perspectives and experience to the table. The team wrote a purpose and set of values which we believe represents who we are, what we do, and what we aspire to become as a company.

Today our purpose at Flowserve is clear: Together, we create extraordinary flow control solutions to make the world better for everyone. Wherever we live and whichever aspect of the business we own, associates live this purpose daily through six core values: people, safety, integrity, innovation, ownership, and excellence.

The full realization of this purpose and these values as the core elements of building our culture moving forward will come about through the most important thing in the world: the people. 

About the Author

Benjamin J. Hayford 韩明豪 is Senior Manager, Sales Operations – Asia Pacific for Flowserve Corp. Flowserve Corp is an American multinational corporation with a global team of more than 16,500 employees in 55 countries. It is one of the largest suppliers of industrial and environmental machinery and services power, oil, gas, chemical, and other industries. The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Flowserve.